South America Travel Guides

You'll
find tips on the best hotels, advice on flights and airpasses, a run
down of tourism highlights and discount travel tips. If you know where
you're going, browse the country categories on the left. Alternatively,
see the South America travel tips blog for general, less country specific advice as well as recent trip reports on Panama, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and Colombia.

Mexico
has one of the widest ranges of travel attractions of all countries in
Latin America. There's fantastic beaches, and luxurious resorts, on
both the Caribbean and Pacific coasts. Mexico's interior is scattered
with beautiful colonial towns, cosmopolitan modern cities, deserts to
the North and rainforest to the South. Add to all this a range of
ancient Mayan and Aztec ruins, indigenous tribes and beautiful natural
scenery - Mexico offers something for everyone, and is a great family
vacation destination. Don't be put off by the recent bad press - Mexico
is still a wonderful country to vist!

Belize
has some of Latin America's best diving, in addition to lovely beach
resorts, and some of the continents best jungle lodges. A tiny English
speaking country with a high biodiversity, Belize is your best option
if you want to combine rainforests with beaches with ease.

Guatemala
is one of Central America's most fascinating cultural travel
destinations, and is also excellent value for money. There's few decent
beaches here - a vacation is all about the highland towns and
indigenous markets, charming colonial towns and jungle clad Mayan
ruins.

Costa Rica's
well developed tourism infrastructure, low crime rate and beautiful
natural attractions means it's often the first choice for family
vacations to Latin America. A popular ecotourism destination, there's
countless jungle lodges and wildlife viewing opportunities, volcanoes
to climb (or watch erupting) and some wonderful beaches and upmarket
resorts on the Pacific Coast.

Panama
has recently been dubbed Latin America's up & coming travel
destination - and with such a huge range of attractions, it's easy to
see why. There's some lovely beaches and wonderful islands on both the
Caribbean and Pacific coasts, pristine rainforests and beautiful
Swiss-like highland scenery.

Colombia
has traditionally had a bad image - people mistakenly imagine it as a
dangerous country. A huge proportion of people who have travelled
extensively in South America regularly cite Colombia as their favourite
country of all. Why? Maybe it's the beautiful friendly people, the
stunning tropical beaches, the excellent scuba diving, the wildlife
watching and pristine rainforests, the stunning trekking routes and
natural scenery (deserts to rainforests to snow capped peaks), the
romantic colonial towns, the mysterious archaeological sites or the
buzzing cosmopolitan cities. No other country in the region has the
range of attractions offered by Colombia - and it's time (2012) has
come. Colombia is the "in", trendy destination to visit in 2012.

Venezuela
is often overlooked, and while you get much better value for money in
neighbouring countries, it's a great adventure sports destination,
there's some fantastic beaches and of course there's the highest
waterfall in the world - Angel Falls.

Ecuador's
great range of attractions means it's often first choice for visitors
to South America. The fearless wildlife of the Galapagos Islands are
the top travel highlight, but on the mainland tourists find rainforests
and luxury jungle lodges, indigenous markets and spectacular volcanic
scenery amidst the Andes.

Peru
is South America's most frequently visited tourism destination. A
vacation to the "Land of the Incas" is always a cultural one -
involving tours to highland towns and markets set in beautiful natural
scenery, plus plenty of amazing Inca ruins to explore in addition to
some excellent rainforest lodges.

Brazil's
huge Atlantic coastline offers destinations to keep beach worshippers
occupied for close to a year, whilst inland there's huge swathes of
Amazon rainforest to experience, some fantastic wildlife viewing in the
Pantanal wetlands, in addition to the amazing waterfalls at Iguassu,
which borders with....

Argentina, the land of the tango, and a
country with a distinctly more European feel to it. Capital city Buenos
Aires is considered to be the "Paris of South America", whilst to the
North one finds beautiful wine growing regions as well as some
fascinating highland towns. To the South, Argentina's Lake District
(Patagonia) is an outdoor enthusiast's dream.

Chile's natural attractions range from
deserts in the North to volcanoes and freezing landscapes to the South.
A trekkers dream, this is one of South America's best outdoor
activities destinations, with the mysterious statues of Easter Island
the top cultural attraction.